I love white lilacs and free is always the best price!

I changed my center bed to a circle and my son gave me a great idea to put a bean teepee in the center. Now I'm not sure what to edge it with. I won't have enough marigold and alyssum but I do have 9 pink/yellow mini roses. (good sale at the food store before Mother's Day.) But, today, I also thought about adding in some globe basil to look like little boxwoods. Or, should I scrap that and just direct sow some dwarf zinnia and sunflower.

I also switched from attempting a step-over dwarf pear hedge to installing 4 blueberry bushes to divide the potager from the hop yard. I still would love to try the step-over pears, but unfortunately, only so much time in the weekend and my wallet seems to be filled with receipts instead of dollars at the moment.

Don't get me wrong, I love lilacs, but after they finish blooming, they don't do much for me. They don't have the visual interest of a small tree.

Have you thought of ordering on line?

Ali-b, I love the idea of roses around the bean teepee. Sunflowers are so cheerful, but they do attract a lot of yellow jackets, at least in our area. I try to keep them at the back of the garden and away from the entrances.

Blueberry bushes are one of my favorite shrubs. They're compact, easy to grow...and they have fruit :) I'm using them in the fairy garden and the potager.

Maybe the step-over pears can be a project for next year. I'm already making a list of "next year" projects that are either too expensive or will take too much time...lately it seems to be both! LOL

Thanks for the input, lavender lass. I have them laid out in their pots and they do look pretty. I'm excited about the blueberries. The bushes all have green blueberries on them.

I, too, have a next year list starting already. I haven't even gotten everything planted and I'm thinking about next year. Yes, the step-overs for next year. Just the name invokes such a romantic image.

Designing and working in the garden is so much fun though (although I would not include the poison ivy removal -- that was not so much fun since I'd already knelt on the ground when I discovered the PI sprouts.)

I just butcher my full-sized Oro Blanco grapefruit tree and Snow Queen Nectarine every year to make them tiny. I'm not sure how long they will live with this level of abuse, but they look so cute. And I can cover them with squirrel-bird netting, because they are small.
Renee

There are a number of methods to control the size of fruit treets. Bark ringing and root pruning are options. It depends on your skill and confidence with such matters. Might be worth research and an experiment. And it depends on how much you want a dwarf tree (full size apple trees in orchards are still pruned to stay small enough to harvest from easily). Or you might consider something like a beach plum that can be pruned as a tree or a shrub. Or quince - lovely coral flowers. There are lots of interesting options.

GW won't let me link to an interesting Google Books article called "Controlling the Size of Trees." You might want to check it out.